A Dog's Love
by LunaNomea
Summary: A Dog Trainer meets the Kiaba's when she is needed to train Mokuba's new dog. Rated M for lemon.


_This story has been edited by my lovely beta: Romance on Express. She was wonderful and took the time out to snag those errors. : ) _

* * *

**A Dog's Love**

A young woman, who leaned on the short side, gawked through the tall metal gates, past the vast landscapes and then to the gorgeous fancy mansion in front of her. She had worked for rich people before, but the person that lived on this particular property was practically made of money. And in all honesty, it wasn't far from the truth. Sayuri wasn't poor enough to live under a rock to not know who Seto Kaiba was. Everyone knew of him. He just about ran the whole city of Domino. He had even been allowed to have a Duel Monsters' tournament with the whole city being the battlefield. It had been nothing but chaos for a whole week and Say had barely left her small flat because of it. It had been dangerous, with all those eager duelists challenging absolutely everyone.

So why was she there? Good question.

Say had been completely shocked when a letter had been sent to her the week before, stamped with a fancy "KC" for Kaiba Corporation. At first, she'd thought it was a mistake in address. Then as she opened it, she thought it was a joke. By the end of the letter, she knew that it was in fact real. And then it sunk in. Seto Kaiba was asking her to train his dog. Well, his younger brother's Messaging +

She had almost started laughing by then. Seto Kaiba needed help? Who would have thought it? But after a long talk with herself, her initial decision to not do it turned into a: "Fine. I'll do it. But only because I want to help that poor dog."

With a deep preparing breath, Say pressed the button on the speaker box attached to the gate.

"State your name," the computer operated voice said.

"Katsu Sayuri," she replied with a small voice, hoping it had heard her.

It apparently did as the gates opened for her, letting her walk through the gates and onto the Kaiba grounds. Bag in hand, she knocked on the front door made of mahogany. She then was taken by surprise as an older man that she assumed was a butler swung open the door the second her fist left the wood.

"Miss Katsu. Please come in," the formal voice spoke, while stepping aside to let her pass.

If the outside was extravagant, than the inside was unbelievable. Her eyes peered around curiously in awe before following the grand staircase in the middle of the room to see Seto Kaiba himself. He was tall, she could tell even from the ground floor, with brown hair that fell gently into his sharp eyes. He was dressed smartly and wore a stoic expression. Completely professional. Had she been expecting him to seem different at home on a Sunday?

"Thank you for coming," he broke her thoughts with an equally formal voice that mimicked his butler's, but was deep enough to make her inwardly shudder at the sound of it. Must be the intimidation practice he was known for. She watched him make his way down the stairs and she found her voice catch in her throat as he began moving closer. "As my secretary informed you, I will be paying you personally a 200,000 yen paycheck for your services each week. That will be sufficient, correct?"

At the amount of money falling from his lips lightly, Say broke her stupor. "She did say that, but it won't be necessary Mr. Kaiba. I train dogs for no profit." After she spoke this, he eyed her, as if not understanding what she had just said.

As the silence waned on and he continued to stare, she felt heat rush to her cheeks involuntarily. _What? _She wanted to ask him.

Finally he spoke, "We will see after you meet the mutt my younger brother brought home."

She wanted to roll her eyes at how he spoke of the dog, but was forced into submission as he turned towards the butler who was against the wall waiting for orders.

"Have Mokuba bring the dog," he commanded and the butler nodded quickly before running up the stairs.

It took only one more minute of awkward silence before loud paw thumbs were heard and made their way down the large staircase, followed by a shriek that belonged to the small black haired boy tailing after it. The commotion had Say's eyes wide and Seto backing into the other room's doorway cautiously.

Suddenly, the golden Labrador retriever, as she noticed his breed and gender automatically, jumped up and pawed her to the ground before licking her face happily. Startled at first, she didn't hear the shouts and feel the frantic pulls of the small boy's hands, trying to pry his overly friendly dog away from the poor newcomer.

"Get off of her Mamoru! Bad dog! No!" the boy attempted, panic high in his voice. "I'm so sorr—"His voice broke off when he realized she had begun to laugh uncontrollably.

After a moment, Say finally pushed the dog with all her might off of her and sat up, while the boy made a grab for the bright blue collar around his neck tightly.

"I'm sorry about that. He doesn't have manners," the boy apologized with a bright blush on his face.

Sayuri giggled and stood up, straightening out her clothing. "Don't worry! Most dogs don't," she said good-naturedly, unaware of the piercing blue eyes on her. "So what's the guy's name?" she asked, glancing down at the dog that was sitting for once, but his eyes were staring at her expectantly and his tail was thumping the floor.

The small boy brightened, as if he had been afraid that she would reject to help after the dog's playful jump. She smiled kindly at that. "Mamoru! It means protector! But…well, he likes people too much to be protective," the boy explained, before piping up again. "I'm Mokuba by the way!"

"Nice to meet you Mokuba," Say said with bright eyes. "And I'm sure that Mamoru will protect you if he needs to. Don't ever underestimate him. Labradors are a very loyal breed."

"I know! I looked it up on a dog book I bought when I got him! I wanted to know everything abou—"

"Mokuba," a deep voice interrupted, making Sayuri and Mokuba both dart their eyes with surprise at Seto as he moved forwards, but only just. They had almost forgotten he was still there. "Ms. Katsu is here to train him. Listen to everything she says. I'll be in my…office." And with another brief glance in Say's direction, he disappeared back up the stairway.

"Sure thing big brother!" Mokuba called after him before turning to Sayuri with eager eyes. "Well! Let's get to it, yeah?"

Sayuri took her eyes off of the hallway that she could see upstairs, where Seto had disappeared into, to look down at Mokuba and then smiled. "Yes, let's."

It took a matter of fifteen minutes and Mamoru had finally stopped jumping. Mokuba had learned it quite easily too, making him sit before he got too anxious to jump. Sayuri had practiced walking out of the room, leaving Mokuba and Mamoru alone, before returning. By the end of the hour, Mamoru was sitting next to Mokuba patiently waiting for command to greet the new person. The first "sit" lesson seemed to be working just fine. And both Mokuba and Sayuri were feeling accomplished. Even Mamoru was happy about it! He got so much praise!

The hour was up and Sayuri picked her bag up off of the floor next to a wall and took the treat bag attached to her belt loop of her jeans to stuff it into the bag.

"That was awesome!" Mokuba praised, leaving Mamoru who had gotten tired of his own mental exercise and had decided to take a nap at the bottom of the stairs. "Seto said you were the best and he definitely wasn't joking!"

Sayuri, who was still bent over her bag –zipping it up—blushed violently. Seto Kaiba had said that about her? And why did that make her feel little pleasure tingles run up her spine? She cleared her throat awkwardly and stood up, putting her bag over her shoulder. "Don't thank me," she said with a smile, hoping the red on her cheeks was fading so he wouldn't notice. "Mamoru has a great trainer with him. I think you'll do just fine."

Mokuba beamed at that. "Thanks!"

Sayuri grinned. He was adorable. And to think, she usually didn't like teaching kids to train dogs. Mokuba was a little charmer. "Well, I best be going. Make sure to keep practicing, okay?" she said, walking towards the door. Mokuba ran over, Mamoru's head coming up at the sudden energy of his human, and held the door open for her.

"I promise! I'll see you next week?"

"Of course! Bye Mokuba," she said happily, before descending down the stairs and through the grounds and out of the gates that opened automatically for her to leave.

On her walk home to her flat, she was certain of three things. One, Mokuba and Mamoru were adorable and she'd have a lot of fun teaching them cool tricks and obedience. Two, Seto Kaiba was a mystery. And three, she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't interested in solving it.

oO0Oo

The next week, Sayuri felt more nervous to go to the Kaiba Mansion than her first time. She refused to think it had anything to do with Seto Kaiba. Never mind that she hadn't seen him whole time she was there with Mokuba and Mamoru –who didn't jump on her when she entered the door—and was surprised to find herself disappointed. Mamoru had learned to lay down and stay, and even though everything had gone perfectly fine, when she left, she was in a bad mood.

She was angry with herself for being so disappointed when there was no reason to feel that way. Seto Kaiba was so out of reach that it was unnecessary to even think in that way. And whatever way that she was thinking of him in, was no good for her. She had determined that much. She refused to act like some fan girl just because they had spoken once and he had given her a measly compliment. A lot of people had told her she was a great dog trainer, she had a lot of clients. Especially because she did the training for free. Others would force her to take money and in that case, she'd pay for her bills or groceries with it. But, for some reason, the fact that Seto Kaiba had said that about her wouldn't leave her mind.

And that was annoying her.

At five o'clock, the mail arrived and her own dog barked through the mail slot at the mail man. She'd tried to train him out of it, but Kayo had some sort of rivalry with the man. He was wonderful with everyone else and didn't bark at all the rest of the time –a great gene that Italian Greyhounds had—but the mailman seemed to get under his skin.

Rolling her eyes, Say got up off the couch and grabbed the papers off the floor. Kayo gave one last threatening –if an Italian Greyhound could be threatening—bark, and then promptly laid himself down in his home made dog bed in front of the window seat.

"Lazy," she scolded under her breath before sitting back down on the couch to look through her mail for the day. Her mother was still paying for those "SEDA" magazines so she had another one for the month. Throwing it carelessly on the table in front of her, along with the last few months of them, she abrubtly stopped flipping through her next month's bills to land on another "KC" stamped envelope.

Her heart began to flutter and she narrowed her eyes, hating herself and Seto Kaiba for making her react this way. _Perhaps she wasn't doing a good enough job_, her self-conscious mind told her. _He's firing her. _

With curious, yet anxious, fingers she opened the letter and out fell a beautifully had scripted check that had Seto Kaiba's signature along with her name printed on the top. Her eyes followed the line to see the amount he had given her. 200,000 yen. Just like he had promised. She felt like throwing up at the amount he'd given her. Even the other rich clients she had in the past had only given her half of that. And they had been generous!

"I can't accept this," she muttered, but moved her fingertip along his handwriting anyways, as if admiring it. He had really nice handwriting, if she was excusing herself in any way.

Well, she got what she wanted. An opportunity to talk to Seto. Swallowing her heart, she grabbed for her house phone and dialed the "KC" number printed on the back of the envelope the check had been in. After a few automatic questions, a few number pressings, she finally got to Seto Kaiba's secretary.

"Kaiba Corp, Mr. Kaiba's office. This is Emilio, how may I help you?" a kind, but familiar voice answered. She'd talked to this woman before when Sayuri had accepted the job.

"Hi, Emilio. This is Sayuri Katsu and I was wondering if there was a way I could talk to Mr. Kaiba?" she asked, performing her professional voice quite smoothly.

"I'm sorry, Miss Katsu. Mr. Kaiba has left his office for the day. Would you like me to take a message for him?"

So he _had_ been home when she was there! Hmph. She had assumed he was at work, pulling more hours!

"No, that'll be fine. I'll just get in touch with him later, thank you for your help," she said kindly, before they said goodbye.

Shutting her phone off, she stood up with a glare - her bad mood returning. "Come on Kayo, we are going for a walk."

That walk ended up leading her to Seto Kaiba's mansion in front of the gates at six in the evening and Kayo sniffing the corners of the gates curiously for pee markings, before making his own. She tugged on the leash gently, making him look over at her. "Stop that!" she hissed and he pranced over to her feet, thinking she was trying to play with him. She sighed and looked back up at the mansion. Well, now or never. She pressed the button on the gate and spoke her name, before the gates let her inside.

With Kayo in tow, she rapped on the door with a thumping heart. The butler answered, like always, and was surprised to see her there. With a dog.

"Um, hi," Say said with a nervous smile. "I was wondering if I can talk to Mr. Kaiba about the payment he gave me?"

"Miss Katsu, it's after hours. You should come back tomorrow or perhaps make an appointment."

Suddenly feeling deflated, because she hadn't even thought of either of those things, Sayuri nodded. "Right, I'm sorry. Um, could you let Mr. Kaiba know that I'll be getting into contact tomorrow?"

"Certainly—"

"No need. I'm right here," the deep voice that her insides had wanted to hear so badly that day finally spoke from within the house. The butler stepped aside and looked behind him, as Sayuri saw Seto dressed casually in dark jeans and a black long sleeve shirt. If the business suit she had seen him wear had been gorgeous on him, seeing him wearing that was practically mouthwatering. Oh god, there she went again!

That was it. She was a fan girl.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba," the butler obediently said with a small bow before leaving the room completely. Sayuri stared at Seto and Seto stared back at her for a long moment before he broke the silence, seeming impatient.

"Well, Miss Katsu? Is there a reason you're at my door after hours? As it was, you were just here 4 hours ago."

Her cheeks flamed, but her eyes narrowed a little. He'd known she was there? Oh, right. Of course he knew. She was _supposed_ to be there!

Grabbing up Kayo into her arms, ignoring his long legs stretching into her sides, she walked inside the door and closed it behind her. "Um, yes, sorry. I was just wanting to talk to you about my check that you sent me. I can—"

"It's not enough, is it? Figures. Everyone's after my money," he said dangerously low and she shuddered, despite his accusation being untrue.

"No, no, no!" She said quickly, making his eyebrows raise. "I, well, I wanted to say I can't take this much money. Or any money at all. It's completely unnecessary. I like doing what I do for dogs. Not to get money out of it. If I did that, I think it would take the fun out of it. Plus Mokuba and Mamoru are wonderful to work with. I would feel like I was betraying them, just taking money from you."

After her speech, she realized she'd rambled by the look he gave her. It was indifferent as usual, but his eyes sparked a little. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she took out the check and held it out to him. "Here. I can't take it," she repeated.

Seto's eyes lowered to the check being handed to him and she felt her body shiver a little in anticipation. _Just take it already! It's hard enough as it is to stand here in front of you, giving that large amount of sum back to you. It could have went towards a new car!_

Slowly, he took the check from her and she let out a sigh of relief. His eyes flickered back to hers briefly at the sound of it. "So let me get this straight…you're helping my little brother out….for free?" he asked, as if trying the words out for size.

Sayuri's lips twitched up into a tiny smile. "Yes. And I'm happy with that. I promise."

He searched her face for any fake bravado and apparently found none. He then sighed himself. "Fine, but if you need anything don't hesitate to ask me for any amount of money. You are working for me and I don't feel comfortable making you do it for free."

"But, Mr. Kaiba, you're not making me do it for free. I'm wanting to do it for free. Therefore I don't or won't need your money. But thank you for the sentiment," she said with a full smile now.

"Hn," he said and crumped the check before sliding it into his pocket. "Was that it?"

Sayuri nodded happily. She got to see Seto, talk with him, and not have to get paid. _Yes, that was it!_

"Then have a good night, Miss Katsu," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And please get that dog out of my house. I have one that destroys my house daily, I don't need another peeing on my marble floor."

Sayuri was in too good of a mood for the insult to affect her or make her correct him, as Kayo was in her arms therefore he wasn't going to pee on his floor. And he was potty trained. "Good night to you too Mr. Kaiba. Thank you for understanding and talking to me," she said before bowing a little to him in farewell and walking out into the night.

Seto grabbed the door handle and watched her leave through his gates, setting her dog back down onto the ground to walk alongside of her. She was puzzling, to say the least. No one had ever flat out asked him not to pay them. If anything, they'd ask for a raise. And he'd never had someone work for him freely. He could tell she wasn't well off. Her jeans were faded and worn and her shirts were pilled enough to show him that she'd worn them for more than a few months, if not years. He had researched her of course after he'd found out about her, learning that besides training dogs for rich people, she lived in a not so wonderful neighborhood. So why after having the opportunity to make money, did she refuse to take it? Did she like living poorly? Or was it because of what she had said? That she did this for the dogs, not the money. If that was the case, he hadn't met anyone in his life so far that was that passionate about something to do it for free.

Seto almost felt like he needed to pay her anyways but as soon as the thought entered his mind it quickly vanished. Sayuri's eyes had lit up with determined fire when she had handed over the check. She honestly didn't want it.

Was this for real?

Seto finally closed the door whenever she disappeared from view. Only time would tell.

oO0Oo

After the matter of payment was settled, Sayuri's job to train Mokuba and Mamoru was excellent. Mokuba listened to everything she said and was very eager to do it. Mamoru loved the attention, the treats, and the thinking. As Sayuri always said, dogs love to think. And he was doing so much better than a far cry from when he pummeled her to the ground. So by the end of the month, Sayuri figured it was a good time to start walking them out on the city street to get him accustomed to the noises. Apparently, Mokuba only took him outside on the grounds since he had him.

"How old do you think he is?" Mokuba asked, fondly looking down at Mamoru as he sat down at the end of the gate to wait for Sayuri to catch up with her treat bag on her hip.

"Um, probably about 2. Labradors don't usually start settling down until their 3 or 4," she answered, before grabbing the leash from Mokuba which he gladly handed over.

"So that means Seto will start liking him next year," Mokuba stated, sounding a little too hopeful.

At the mention of his brother, she pretended to fumble with the leash. "You brother doesn't like Mamoru?"

Mokuba sighed. "No. He didn't want me to keep him. But I couldn't just let the pound take him! I found him by a dumpster behind my school one day. Seto came out late that night and found the huge mess that Mamoru had made. He really liked Seto's socks…" Sayuri couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "He wanted him out that night, but I pleaded with him and he finally caved in. But I had to learn how to train him. So we hired a few dog trainers, but they all ended up either not doing a good job or making it worse. Some didn't even get past the front door. I thought Seto was going to make me send Mamoru away, but then he found out about you."

Sayuri blushed a little and scratched the back of her head a little. "Yeah, um how did he find out about me, by the way?"

Mokuba brightened with a smile. "Some client at work was talking about how good of a job you did with their unruly bull dog. So Seto called out to you and figured you would be the last try. So I'm really glad that you ended up being wonderful because I think I would have had to get rid of Mamoru."

Say smiled appreciatively, feeling lighter. "Well I'm glad I could help. You two are pretty cool yourselves."

Mokuba grinned before they both were interrupted as a bird landed on the ground and caught Mamoru's attention. He proceeded to suddenly run after it like a wild animal, tugging Sayuri forwards with her grip still on the leash, while Mokuba squealed and ran after her.

Whenever they managed to get Mamoru to calm down, Sayuri laughed at Mokuba's panicked expression. "Well, looks like we need some practice with pulling."

It took a bit more time than usual for their training session to end but they finally returned to the Kaiba mansion just as Seto was taking off his coat, handing it off to his butler. Sayuri immediately avoided eye contact out of embarrassment and Mokuba dropped the leash on Mamoru as he bounced over to say hi to his brother.

Sayuri took that moment to bend down and take the leash off of Mamoru, who ran after the butler for his dinner. She stowed the leash away in the closet by the door, before adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

"—And he pulled Sayuri all the way down the street after a bird! And then she told him to sit and he stayed like we taught him! And then Sayuri said to keep him to the left of you. And then—"

"I get the picture Mokuba," Seto cut him off, placing a gentle hand on his little brother's shoulder before glancing over at Sayuri who watched them with a small smile. "Did Sayuri teach him to stop pulling then?"

Say felt her heart stop at the sound of her first name being spoken by him. It had been the first time she had ever heard him use it and she had to admit, she absolutely loved it. She had finally accepted her small fan girl crush on him. As that was what it was.

"Yep! She really is the best, Seto!" Mokuba praised with an excited grin, making his older brother look down at him with a fond expression.

"Good. Now I need to speak with her before she leaves. Go make sure your dog is fed for the night."

"Right! Bye Sayuri!" he said with a wave and a grin before exiting the room.

"Bye Mokuba," she called after him, but she was sure it fell on deaf ears. That whole "dogs are similar to their owners" was no joke.

Her smile faltered as she realized that it was now only Seto and herself in the room. Suddenly, she didn't feel so elated. Nervous was more like it. Would she ever be comfortable around him? Probably not. He was either going to fire her or ask if she needed money again. Both of she hoped didn't happen.

"You needed to speak with me," she said formally, raising her chin to prepare herself for the worst. Seto took a few steps towards her, crossing his arms over his chest as he came to a stop in front of her.

"I'm leaving for the United States this weekend on a business trip. I usually take Mokuba along, but he now has an animal to take care of and training once a week with you. Since there is noticeable progress with the dog, I don't want to stop it now in case of a relapse," he explained in his deep voice and Sayuri was confused with how the conversation was going. He realized this and shifted on his feet. "I will bring him along if you refuse, I'm sure there are enough people in this house to take care of the dog, but I wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to stay in the mansion while I'm gone and take care of Mokuba."

Sayuri's eyes widened largely at his proposal and she didn't know what to say. "I-I'm not a babysitter, Mr. Kaiba—" she said to begin with, not sure how to go about this.

"I know that and if it wasn't for the fact that your training is helping and you seem to get along very well with Mokuba, moreso than his past babysitters, then I thought I would at least offer the opportunity. I will pay you, if you want me to. Unless you have qualms about that too."

Was he smirking at her? She forced her heart to stop fluttering and then realized she had her hand on her chest.

"I, um—well, I do like Mokuba and he's doing very well in the classes. He seems to really enjoy them as well. And I'd hate to take that away from him, but I am not sure I'm the right person for the job…" she explained uncomfortably, her eyes lowering to the ground.

"If you were wrong for the job, I wouldn't ask you," he said simply and she felt her cheeks redden. Oh great, she was blushing in front of him.

"Right," she said slowly, before taking a deep breath and looking him square in the eyes with her decision. "Okay. I'll do it. But I have to bring my own dog here. I don't have workers at my house to take care of him."

Seto smirked a little and she smiled back. She assumed that'd be the closest she'd get to a smile from Seto Kaiba. "That's fine. Just make sure you do take care of him. I don't want my house to be an equivalent to a stable, Miss Katsu."

"I understand," she said with an affirmative nod.

"All right, then it's settled. I'm leaving Friday afternoon, so if you could be here at 1?"

"I'll be here," she said, her eyes locking onto his and sending them into a stare that left her feeling warm but awkward at the same time. No words were said again, until Mokuba called his brother from another part of the house.

"I –uh, I'll see you Friday then," Sayuri said with heated cheeks. "Good night Mr. Kaiba."

Seto nodded, never taking his eyes off of her before she left through his front door.

"Seto!" Mokuba called again, making Seto finally turn around and go see what his brother wanted, hoping that when he told Mokuba of his travels this weekend that it would be a bit less unfortunate for him since Sayuri was going to be there.

oO0Oo

Friday came quick enough and Sayuri found herself with a backpack full of necessary essentials that'd she'd need for a week and another bag hanging from her wrist with Kayo's stuff in it. Kayo was inside of his dog carrier, held in her hand. He hated the thing, but he was being nice about it. Only because she'd given him an antler to chew on inside. She wanted to make a good impression with Kaiba with Kayo, knowing he didn't necessarily like the idea she was coming with a dog into his home.

The door opened before she could knock and the butler let her inside hurriedly. "Mr. Kaiba's flight is going to be leaving a bit earlier than expected and so he is leaving in just a moment. You arrived just in time," he said, his wiry hair looking messed up as if he had been running his hand through it. Sayuri felt sorry for him. Apparently this sort of thing stressed the older man out.

"No worries," she said, giving him a kind smile that he seemed to not expect and she moved passed him with her things and dog into the house.

He seemed to come out of his shock and grabbed her bag and backpack from her. "I'll take these up to the room you'll be staying in," he muttered before bustling up the grand staircase quickly before she could thank him.

Taking a better hold of Kayo's carrier, she looked around the vacant room and blew out a breath. Well, she was here. Staying in the Kaiba mansion for a week. Her life had gotten a bit weird. And exciting. Depends on how she was feeling at the moment.

"Sayuri!" Mokuba's happy voice cheered from the hallway above before he ran down the steps towards her. Before she could react, he had wrapped his arms around her waist and given her a hug. "Thank you so much for staying with me! I was upset that Seto was leaving without me, but when he told me you'd be here I don't mind! And you brought a dog too!"

Sayuri laughed at Mokuba's excited chatter before he let her go and bent down to look at Kayo inside of his carrier, through the bars on the front door. "His name is Kayo and he's an Italian Greyhound."

"He's adorable! Mamoru is just going to love playing with him!" Mokuba said happily and Sayuri would have spoken more, but suddenly the butler and Seto descended from the upstairs and her voice caught in her throat.

He was wearing his white trench coat over the top of his usual black clothing and he looked to be extremely annoyed. His butler on the other hand, was fussing around him, trying to make sure he had everything he needed. Upon seeing Sayuri there with Mokuba, his mood lifted and he found himself looking at her for longer than he had intended to.

"Miss Katsu, thank you for coming. My number along with other emergency numbers are in a binder in your room. If something goes wrong, let me know immediately," he said firmly, before looking down at his brother who tackled him into one last hug. "Goodbye Mokuba. Be good."

Mokuba smiled up at him. "Always. Call me soon."

"I will," Seto said quietly, before he gave Sayuri a curt nod and left the mansion all together, the butler following after him.

Mokuba sighed and stared at the door longingly. Understanding his pain and loss, Sayuri thought up something to make him feel better. "Where's that dog of yours?" she said with a smile, making Mokuba look at her distractedly. "He doing any better with his walks?"

Mokuba picked up the bait and then proceeded to lead her and Kayo up the stairs to where Mamoru was sleeping on Mokuba's bed, chattering the whole time about how well Mamoru and him were doing on his practice.

The evening wore on and it soon grew dark, while Mokuba and Sayuri had a great time watching Mamoru and the small Kayo play. They seemed to like each other right off the bat and their goofy playing and size difference had their humans laughing. Soon it was dinner and Sayuri made sure Mokuba ate dinner along with the dogs. In all honesty, she didn't mind hanging out with Mokuba. He understood dogs and if there was one thing she could go on and on about, well, it was dogs. And he soaked it all up.

Closing the door behind her, she smiled to herself before walking down the hallway to her room she'd be sleeping in. Mokuba was too cute and he'd practically fallen asleep while watching Iron Man with her. The night now over, and Mokuba and Mamoru sleeping together on his bed, Kayo and her entered her room. When she had first entered it, she had been amazed at the amount of room there was. It was practically the size of her flat. Actually, with the connecting bathroom to the side, it was bigger.

Kayo, the lazy dog he was and with how much playing he did that afternoon, jumped onto the bed and made himself comfortable underneath one of the pillows. She laughed a little and undressed to get into her night shirt. "Guess I better soak it up while I can," she murmured to herself as she climbed into bed beside Kayo and turned the lamp off, making it completely dark in the room.

Must be nice to sleep on such comfy beds like this each night, she mused to herself before falling into sleep. The last thing she felt was Kayo snuggling up to her side.

oO0Oo

The next couple days went on in a blur. Sayuri and Mokuba had gotten to know each other a little bit better than they were allowed to when they had 1 hour classes each week. Mokuba was very smart for a kid of 11 and he caught on to things that she wouldn't have normally thought that he would. It wasn't until Sunday afternoon, while they watched Kayo and Mamoru play in the vast back yard and gardens that Mokuba brought up her past and she found herself a bit hesitant, but figured why not.

"Why I became a dog trainer?" she laughed with a glance over at him. "Because I like dogs, duh."

Mokuba rolled his eyes with a grin. "You know what I mean."

Sayuri did know what he mean, but she was prolonging the explanation. She looked out onto the grounds from where they were leaning on the banister of the white patio. "Well, when I was younger, I watched my father and his friends be very mean to dogs because they thought they were stupid. I knew that it wasn't true and I wanted to harness that knowledge in dogs and work with them, so they'd be understood and treated better. I found a positive way of training dogs, without hurting them or scaring them. That is what makes it worth it. Knowing that they are trained positively."

Mokuba smiled up at her. "I like that about you."

Sayuri looked down bashfully. "Well thanks."

"Seto does too."

A red mark formed across her cheeks and she looked over at him startled. "What?"

"Seto likes that you're nice. He wouldn't have let you come here with Kayo if he wasn't. Or watch me for that matter," Mokuba explained with a weird sparkle in his eyes that she didn't quite understand at that moment. Or if she wanted to for that matter.

"Well, I'm glad he trusts me. I'm sure it's difficult to get him to trust anyone."

Mokuba nodded. "I mean, I don't think he'd let you run Kaiba Corp for the day, but he doesn't want me around the company so much. He never has. I mean, I think the only real reason he has me around it is because we wouldn't see each other if we didn't. So to know that I wouldn't have to be around but I'd be okay without him, I think that means a lot."

Sayuri watched him as he spoke and felt sad that he had to deal with his brother being gone a lot and never really seeing him unless they were at work together. Must be hard. Sounds kind of like her own family. She didn't have any siblings and her parents were always out somewhere. Dad doing drugs and mom cheating on him when he wasn't around. She practically raised herself.

"What happened to your parents, if you don't mind me asking?" She had heard rumors, but she never liked to listen to them. The public liked to twist and turn true stories in order to sell papers and magazines.

Mokuba stiffened at her question and her apology was already on her lips but he stopped her by answering. "They died."

Sayuri felt terrible that she'd asked. It probably brought back memories that he didn't want to think about. Especially being so young.

Mokuba glanced over at her and cracked a smile. "You don't have to look so miserable. I don't remember them. Seto does, but he doesn't talk about them. Never has. I stopped asking a really long time ago. We lived at an orphanage for a while, until Gozaburo Kaiba came to the orphanage for some weird charity thing. Seto challenged him to a game of a chess, making a deal with him that if Seto won then he'd adopt us. Seto was the best chess player but Gozaburo didn't know that. He thought he could beat a kid no problem. But Seto won. And so we came here. Gozaburo…well, he wasn't the best dad in the world."

Sayuri stayed silent, not knowing what to say after that confession. She frowned and looked down at the grass in thought. So Seto got this company by playing a chess game, and not only a business, but a father for him and Mokuba. A home. That was brave. And smart. She wished she could have gotten new parents by playing a game. She sighed. She shouldn't talk about her low excuse of parents no matter how much they were just that.

Chancing a glance up at Mokuba, she noticed the faraway look on his face. Perking herself up in order to get him to, she smiled and nudged him. "Hey, how about we go order some pizza and have an early movie night before you have to go to bed for school tomorrow."

Mokuba brightened like she had wanted him to and agreed, before calling for their dogs.

So Mokuba didn't like school. Or homework. And she tried to be nice about it, but apparently because Seto wasn't there, he felt like he could plead and distract her into doing other things instead of what he needed to do. She had been in the middle of trying to get him to do his homework on Wednesday for a cupcake for desert when Seto called.

She tried not to groan with frustration when Mokuba ran off to answer. "Hi Seto! Yeah I'm good! Sayuri's great! I am too doing my homework! No! Sayuri's busy, I—"Mokuba appeared back into the kitchen where Sayuri was leaning against the counter with pursed lips. He handed the phone over to her. "He wants to talk to you—"and then he covered the mouth piece to whisper, "Can you tell him I've been doing my homework? I don't want him to be upset!"

Sayuri gave him a look before snatching the phone from him and placing it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Sayuri, hi," the deep voice of Mokuba's brother said through the phone, sending little thrills through her. She covered up her reaction because Mokuba was still staring at her with the largest puppy dog eyes. "I was wanting to know if everything's been going okay."

Sayuri turned her back on Mokuba to answer. "Oh yes, everything's fine. Your house is still in working order, just like I promised."

She could feel his smirk through the phone and that made her smile. "Good. Now tell me, has Mokuba been doing his homework?" he asked, sounding as if he knew the answer.

Sayuri debated on telling the truth, but ended up deciding that he didn't want to upset Mokuba like that. "Yes he is. To the best of his ability." Mokuba wooped quietly in the background and Sayuri rolled her eyes.

Seto was silent for a moment. "Thank you Sayuri. May I please speak with Mokuba again?"

"Absolutely. Oh and…Mr. Kaiba? I hope –everything's okay with you," she stumbled, her cheeks rushing blood as she wished him well.

Seto was silent again, seeming to thinking over her words. She held her breath while she waited for him to respond. "Everything's fine, Miss Katsu."

She swallowed thickly from embarrassment, realizing he had immediately returned to being formal and she felt like a fool for thinking anything differently. He was her employer. And that was it. Clearing her throat, she nodded. "Okay, here's Mokuba."

"Thank you," he stated before she handed the phone back to his brother.

As she waited for the conversation to end, she cursed at herself. She shouldn't have tried to step over any lines. What Mokuba said about her brother and what she wanted to believe about him didn't matter. He was who she worked for. And she was nothing but a worker. And it didn't matter if he wasn't paying her.

Mokuba hung up and sat the phone down on the counter as Sayuri turned back around to look at him. "Thank you for not telling him," Mokuba said in a low voice, looking up at her from beneath his black hair.

Sayuri sighed and then smiled. "Of course Mokuba. But please don't put me in that situation again, okay?"

Mokuba nodded solemnly before grabbing his textbook and getting to work. Sayuri watched him for a moment before retrieving the cupcake and setting it beside him. He glanced over at it. She walked past him. "I think I'm going to go and check on the doggies, come find me when you're done."

"Okay Sayuri!" Mokuba answered with more gusto.

oO0Oo

It was Thursday night and Mokuba had done his homework already, much to Sayuri's relief. He didn't give her a fight at all and it made her think that after the situation with Seto, he'd decided to do the right thing. Kayo was at her feet, begging her to be let out so he could play with Mamoru. They'd been joined at the hip the whole week. She wasn't sure how he was going to react once they had to separate the next day.

And for that matter, how would Sayuri feel when she had to return back to her old flat. She'd gotten used to staying at the Kaiba mansion. But she knew she wouldn't be able to stick around forever. But she would miss Mokuba and hanging out with him. For some reason, it would be weird to ask Seto if she could hang out with his 11 year old brother.

When Kayo started whining, she relented. "Oh fine, go," she said with a roll of her eyes and opened the door of her bedroom. Kayo bounced out of the room and disappeared in Mokuba's room. She followed the small dog so she could check on the boy and found him playing a video game with a headset on, sitting on the floor beside his bed. He seemed to be zoned out, not even noticing Mamoru and Kayo playing around him.

She smiled, trying not to laugh at him. He was too cute.

She slowly closed the door a little, letting there be room just in case the dogs wanted to leave the room. With a tiny smile on her face she turned around and had to stifle a scream when a hand went to her mouth. Her eyes widened and looked up into piercing blue ones and she momentarily stopped fighting against the person.

_Seto was home? _

Seto released her mouth when he saw that she knew who he was and gave her one of his smirks. She gasped. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sh! I want to surprise Mokuba in the morning. I don't want him knowing I'm home until then, but I figured there was no harm in you knowing," he said still smirking, the jerk. After he made her heart leave her body, almost for good.

She took a deep breath to calm herself and glanced behind her to see that Mokuba was still zoned. "Okay, that makes sense," she finally said, before walking away from the door to get away from the smaller boy's room.

Seto followed her, which made her smile to herself. "So everything went okay?"

Sayuri looked over at him and nodded. "Yep. Mokuba was an angel."

Seto snorted and looked away. "Mokuba has never been an angel. If he behaved that way then you're the angel to get him to act that way."

Sayuri's cheeks lit up and she turned her face away from his. "I, uh well maybe angel wasn't the right word to use. But he was good for me."

Seto smirked from beside her. "Good."

A silence fell over them and she found herself feeling more comfortable with it, although it was strange for him to be around all of a sudden. She looked over at him curiously. He was still dressed in his black attire, but without the coat, probably had already stowed it away in the downstairs closet. "So you came back early?" she asked him, as they came to a stop at the foot of the stairs – neither of them knowing where they were going now that they were far enough away from Mokuba's bedroom.

"Yes," he answered, smirk still present. "My meetings were finished earlier this morning and I didn't see the point in staying another night in that dreadful hotel room. My bed seemed a lot more pleasant."

Sayuri was surprised to hear such an honest answer come out of him, especially after he'd rejected her so quickly on the phone. It was apparent on her face and Seto looked away from her uncomfortably, smirk faltering as if he had realized what he had said.

The silence became awkward again and Sayuri decided she didn't want it to end. She didn't want to go to bed just yet, having to wake up to leave to her old flat again… alone. Looking up at him and taking a chance, she gave him a small smile. "Do you want to go down to the kitchen for something hot to drink?"

Seto looked over at her, surprise in his eyes before the smirk returned. "Sure."

Sayuri felt her heart flutter at the sound of his approval before they descended down the stairs and towards the kitchen were Sayuri made them both a cup of coffee. After a couple minutes of them sitting across from each other in the kitchen in silence, Seto decided to break the silence for them this time. Which she was grateful for. She was having coffee with Seto Kaiba in his house. She couldn't get past that to form any sentence worth saying.

"I noticed my house was in one piece. That's a good sign."

Sayuri couldn't help but smile, wanting to laugh at his sense of humor. "Yes, well I promised didn't I?"

Seto smirked. "You did. Do you keep all your promises?"

Sayuri looked up at him at his sudden serious question. "I try to," she said honestly. "But there was nothing to it really, Mokuba is wonderful and the dogs seemed to play with each other more than destroy anything."

Seto looked over at her, as she rubbed the coffee mug in her hand and spoke. "Well I appreciate you doing this for me. I won't say it was nice without Mokuba but I don't have to worry about him being around such stupid crap that I have to deal with when I go over there."

Sayuri caught his gaze and nodded. "I understand. And like I said, there was nothing to it."

"I'm sure the past babysitters would disagree. Mokuba can be kind of a handful."

"I can see that, but he really wasn't for me," she said with a laugh. "Although the homework part was a bit of a challenge. He really doesn't like homework."

Seto smirked and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "No he doesn't. It's like pulling teeth most days. And those eyes he gives me is terrible."

Say was now fully laughing and Seto watched her with amusement. "He's such a goof. He tried it on me and I didn't know what to do."

"No one usually does when it comes to Mokuba," he said with a tiny smile. She caught his eyes and blushed, realizing she was enjoying her time with him.

"Well, I best be grabbing Kayo and heading to bed. I have to prepare myself for normalcy," she said with a smile before standing and taking her mug, but a larger hand covered hers preventing her from lifting it and essentially breathing.

Her eyes looked up into piercing blue ones. His face was stoic again so she couldn't read into it.

"Sayuri, I…thank you. For everything you've done. And not expecting anything from me in return."

Whatever she had been expecting him to say, that hadn't been it. And it was honest. And his hand was very warm. "Y—you're welcome," she stuttered, before cursing herself for it. But she couldn't necessarily go on with her inward torture, because his face was moving towards hers and she was having a hard time thinking straight.

_Was he really…?_

Her eyes were locked on his, briefly closing as he got closer to her, enough that she was beginning to feel his breath on her skin. Just when she thought that she had died and gone to heaven, that Seto Kaiba was going to kiss her, he tore away from her and was standing a fair few meters from the table they had been sitting at.

There was a flush high on his cheeks and she stared at him with impossible shock at what had almost happened and how he had reacted to it. "I, uh, good night," he said quickly before leaving her alone in the kitchen.

oO0Oo

Sayuri lay in bed, staring up blankly at the ceiling of the bedroom that she had been staying in for a whole week now. It was fancy, too fancy for her. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she thought of the almost kiss she had shared with Seto Kaiba down in the kitchen a while ago. Two questions were forming in her head. One, why had he wanted to kiss her? And two, was she worthy enough to be kissed by him? He was so smart, attractive, powerful, intimidating and she was just a plain old messed up kid in love with dogs.

No wonder he had decided to not kiss her. He probably had realized just who he had been about to kiss. She didn't blame him for stopping it. Like she had thought before. He was her boss. She was a worker. That was how things like that worked.

Now panicking and not wanting to face him the next morning, she began a plan. Well, a short plan that she was done with in a matter of seconds. She needed to leave now. She quickly got up from the bed, not paying attention to the groan of protest from her dog who was snuggly warm under her blankets, and packed her things quickly. She grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down her goodbye to Mokuba, letting him know that he was doing incredible and that he no longer needed her services. And she believed that. She told Seto thank you for letting her help him and then went to grab her dog. Realizing his carrier was downstairs, she frowned and dropped her things to leave the room.

Preparing to sneak down, she threw open the door and found herself staring at a bare chest. A pale, well-toned bare chest. Raising her eyes up his form, she found his shocked blue eyes and felt her heart rate speed up at the sight of Seto.

"Wha—"

She was suddenly cut off as a hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her flesh against him as leaned down to kiss her. The moment his lips found hers, she felt a searing feeling throughout her body and it grew by the moment. A hand found her hair and kept her to him as her body pressed against his own. She had no time to think about anything.

Before things heated up too quickly though, he pulled away and looked down at her through half lidded eyes. Somehow, his piercing blue looked darker now than she had ever seen them. No words were spoken, only their eyes communicating. All thoughts of leaving were out of her head. Her fingers grabbed onto his hips to level herself out and he leaned down a little, but it was her that reacted that time.

As if having a mind of their own, her lips latched onto his. Their mouths opened, their hands found each other's bodies, and their hearts sped up erratically. Sayuri felt herself being backed up into her bedroom and she couldn't remember how they got to the bed, but knew when she hit the soft blankets and found Seto on top of her.

Kayo perked his head up at the thud and jumped off the bed, miffed that he had been disturbed, but then realized that the door was open and headed out the door, most likely to find Mamoru.

Sayuri realized something. Not only was she now in Seto Kaiba's life, but he was now in her heart. And she just hoped that when she awoke the next morning, that both of those things would still be there.

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Please review!_

**_Stay tuned for the second half of the story!_**


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